Beyond Nonsense - Portmanteau words

In my story about "nonsense," I chose to illustrate the power of said same by referring to Lewis Carrol's "Jabberwocky." Dennis Wilson wrote to tell me that I was doing a disservice both to Lewis Carrol and to our global understanding of nonsense, because, as Mr. Wilson so aptly points out, "the words in Jabberwocky are portmaneaus, two words smushed together to form a new word whose meaning is that of the two words."

A portmanteau, according to alt.english.usage, is a "term for "blend word" comes from "portmanteau", "a leather travelling case that opens into two hinged compartments" (from the French for "carry cloak"), by way of Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass." (Should you wish to purchase a literal, as opposed to literary, portmanteau of your very own, one is available from Bison Saddlery).

Clearly, the exploration and development of portmanteaux is a pleasurable pastime, at least bordering on nonsense, as more than amply illustrated by my own ventures into creating new words for fun.

Carrol (Dodgson) himself wasn't that clear about the portmanteauishness of his words. He writes: "I am afraid I can't explain 'vorpal blade' for you--nor yet 'tulgey wood', but I did make an explanation once for 'uffish thought'! It seemed to suggest a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish. Then again, as to 'burble', if you take the three verbs 'bleat, murmer, and warble, then select the bits I have underlined, it certainly makes 'burble', though I am afraid I can't distinctly remember having made it in that way."

The last word in our exploration of portmanteaury surely belongs to Prof. Steve Mann, inventor of the game of Pret a Portmanteau in which "people are each given a short phrase to carry or wear that 'suggests' the new word." He explains: "For example, a dozen or so people could each be wearing a different phrase that's been born by the same "mother of invention". These "portasibblings" may then get to know each other, and those wearing the same word may in fact find each other. We could even throw in a Scamera Hunt (Scavideo Hunt) where you try to track down the word and photograph it and the person wearing it, or we could have a staff photographer who tries to group the wordwearers."

Proving conclusively the ineluctable connection between portmanteau and nonsense.